Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Different than the old boss: A televised, hour long press conference where the President takes unscripted questions and then answers them at length? What the fuck is this, Britain or something? I almost forgot what this was like to not only have the President answer questions, but not have them submitted beforehand, and then have the press conference dominated by Fox News, former male prostitutes, and "ummmms", "uhhhhs", stammering, and what can only be generously described as "English". Actually adding up all the minutes from Bush's press conferences (all 3 of them), I think Barry has already surpassed the sum total of Bush's eight years of question time in one evening. He didn't even have to duck a flying shoe.

Same as the old boss: pulls the 'state secrets' card to justify stonewalling a lawsuit against a Boeing subsidiary which flew the planes used in the rendition of terrorist suspects. Using the state secrets shield to prevent a man from getting his day in court, even though the "secret" that needs to be protected to valiantly has been extensively written about in the public record. Furthermore these charges have been investigated by other countries and they've been able to come up with a forum for judicial action. But not the US, not the new Administration. As Glenn Greenwald puts it "Obama fails his first test on civil liberties and accountability -- resoundingly and disgracefully". Not a very good first step towards pulling back the secrecy vail and executive power abuses, Barry.